A testator may, by will, dispense with the necessity of the personal representative's making an inventory to the probate court or the beneficiaries or both, provided the same does not work any injury to creditors or persons other than beneficiaries under the will. If a will was executed in another state and the will is valid in this state and under the laws of the state where the will was executed the personal representative would not have been required to file inventories or if the will otherwise expresses an intent to relieve the personal representative from all reporting requirements, such a will shall be construed as dispensing with the necessity of inventories in Georgia, provided the same does not work any injury to creditors or parties other than beneficiaries under the will. In all wills, regardless of the date of execution, relief from making inventory with the court shall also relieve the personal representative from sending a copy of the inventory to the beneficiaries.
(Code 1981, §53-7-33, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1586, § 32.)
Law reviews.- For article discussing methods of simplifying the administration of estates by excusing the executors from certain obligations, see 6 Ga. L. Rev. 74 (1971).
COMMENTThis section carries forward the provisions of former OCGA Sec. 53-7-79 that relate to the duty to make inventory. See OCGA Sec. 53-7-69 for provisions allowing the testator to relieve the personal representative from the duty to make returns.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Editor's notes.
- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 113-1414, are included in the annotations for this Code section.
Statute did not provide cause of action to creditor of the estate.
- Because an estate's executors were exempted by the terms of the testator's will from the duty to file an accounting or inventory, a creditor of the estate was not entitled to compel the executors to file such reports. O.C.G.A. §§ 53-7-33 and53-7-69 did not provide for a cause of action but simply noted that the executors were not unaccountable for injury based on the exemption. In re Estate of Willis, 310 Ga. App. 377, 713 S.E.2d 464 (2011).
Cited in Chapalas v. Papachristos, 185 Ga. 544, 195 S.E. 737 (1937).